warning: file_exists(): open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/var/www/vhosts/glencoenews.com/httpdocs/../ad_/ad_cache_.inc) is not within the allowed path(s): (/var/www/vhosts/glencoenews.com/httpdocs/:/tmp/) in /var/www/vhosts/glencoenews.com/httpdocs/sites/all/modules/ad/adserve.inc on line 160.

McLeod County will be looking at better ways to monitor ditch maintenance and the subsequent bills, board members indicated at the annual ditch hearing Tuesday morning.
Marian Moy and Steve Moy, who have property along County Ditch 11 near Winsted, both asked the board to justify an $87,000 bill the county received to clean out trees from about 3,000 feet of ditch. Steve Moy, in response to a question from County Attorney Mike Junge, said he had consulted with other contractors who said the bill should have been around $30,000.

Those wishing to reserve camping sites at the Lake Marion and Piepenburg county parks will soon be able to do it online.
On Tuesday, the McLeod County Board of Commissioners approved a contract to create an online reservation site. The initial cost will be $7,100, with a yearly maintenance cost of $3,600 after that.
Al Koglin, parks superintendent, said that campers will be able to view site maps and photographs and be able to reserve sites online.

Glencoe-Silver Lake’s STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Project Lead the Way program is now being implemented in elementary classes.
Those attending GSL’s first community schools luncheon Thursday, Sept. 30, heard a presentation from teachers Scott Picha and Heather Peirce on how the program is being used in the elementary schools.
Both Picha and Peirce said the the program encourages students to “take on real-life problems and find ways to solve them.”

The city of Glencoe’s finance committee invited Paul Donna from Robert W. Baird & Co. to discuss funding options for street improvement projects at its Sept. 28 meeting.
Issuing general obligation bonds, under the guidelines of Minnesota Statute 429, has been utilized by the city of Glencoe since the 1960s.
Donna explained the use of Statute 429 funding allows the city to borrow money for projects at a very low interest rate, but the statute requires a minimum of 20 percent to be assessed to the property owners affected by the project.

A driver fled a one-vehicle rollover Saturday night and was found later in a corn field, where he was arrested on a probable cause charge of driving while intoxicated, according to the McLeod County Sheriff’s Office.
Arrested was Andrew Michael Starks, 28, of Hutchinson. He was taken to the McLeod County Jail in Glencoe.
The accident was reported at 10:46 p.m. in the area of Tagus Avenue and 135th Street, south of Hutchinson. The driver was gone when officers arrived, and was later found uninjured in the corn field.

On Thursday, Sept. 30, members of the community and Glencoe-Silver Lake students heard about the progression of the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) model of learning into the elementary grades.
Unlike many educational innovations of the past, the STEM model looks as if it will serve our students well into the future.
The four components of the acronym STEM are the four that drive so much of our society today — from medical devices to communications to safety initiatives to energy conservation.

It appears the more things change, the more they stay the same. Or at least they come full circle at times.
It seems that the “new health experts” today report they have found a magical way to build up a child’s immune system … let them play outside.
Well, isn’t that a great revelation!

To the Editor:
This November, voters in McLeod County will head to the polls to elect, among other positions, supervisors for the Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD).
Positions on this year’s ballot will include those representing nomination Districts 3, 4, and 5. Nomination District 3 includes the townships of Collins, Lynn and Penn, and nomination District 4 includes the townships of Hassen Valley, Rich Valley and Sumter, and nomination District 5 includes the townships of Acoma and Hassan Valley.